Description

01:28:56 Retrospective film tracing the life and achievements of Sir Winston Churchill. Reel 1. Film begins with a solemn elegy as the camera moves through a wood. "A man there was amongst us who was bold as mountains or tides, who spoke his mind not only as himself but for mankind..." etc. Zoom in to a grand house - Chartwell. Interior of Churchill's library. Pan across books ending on "My Early Life" by Churchill and a collection of his war speeches. Zoom in to a still of Churchill with film title superimposed. Hand takes the book "My Early Life" off the shelf and opens pages to show a photograph of Churchill with his mother - the famous American beauty Miss Jerome. A photograph of his father Lord Randolph Churchill, is placed on top of the photograph of his mother. Voiceover quotes from Churchill's writing about his family and childhood. Photograph of Churchill wearing "the hard hat necessary for the expensive first school" and a still of his form at Harrow - most boys sit in rows as is traditional for a school photograph, but Churchill stands high above them on a staircase. M/S of Churchill in University robes making a humorous speech upon receiving an honorary degree. Stills of Churchill as a youth in uniform with the Cavalry in India.
01:31:04 Boer War footage - men on horseback. Some men dismount. C/U of a newspaper article written by Churchill about the fighting at Thabanchu. Pan across a drawing of the ambush of a railway train. "Young Winston Churchill helped to get the wounded away on the engine and stayed behind to go on with the fighting." Photograph of Churchill as a prisoner of war. Artists impression of Churchill escaping by railway - C/U of a notice announcing a £25 reward for his recapture. Photograph of Churchill in mufti on his return to England. L/Ss of various demonstrations including suffragettes "militantly demanding votes for women" - good montage (women wearing strange pointed hats and masks marching with sandwich boards, women on decorated floats etc.) "Churchill had made himself a target of feminine fury." Police break up crowds and arrest demonstrators (men). 1911 - newspaper article about the Sydney Street Siege "Battle with the Houndsditch Murderers - Scots Guards in Action." Photograph of the police and military ready to face the anarchists. Churchill is with them. M/S of Churchill alighting from a taxi and paying his fare. Artists impression of Churchill in Lord Fisher's office.

01:33:15 Various L/Ss of battleships "Men-of-War" at sea. L/S of crowds on outbreak of war - backs of heads. C/U headline "War Declared on Germany." L/S surging crowds. C/U Winston Churchill walking up some steps. C/U still Churchill in army uniform on horseback. M/S of Churchill with King George V, David Lloyd George and the 1914 war cabinet. M/S of unidentifiable rickety aircraft. C/U Churchill standing by a plane in a pilot's outfit. L/S of Churchill visiting Cranwell and inspecting planes and pilots. Still of Churchill in munitions factory. L/S of Churchill attending a tank demonstration. Tank in action. M/S Churchill with Earl Haig and General Daiz on railway station platform. Short shot of crowds celebrating victory. C/U Churchill leaves Downing Street with Lloyd George. High angle shot of vast crowd celebrating war victory in London. L/S of open carriages driving through London streets for Locarno meeting. The Locarno Treaty group pose on a staircase in the garden of 10 Downing Street - Churchill halfway up the stairs, Stanley Baldwin is there. 1922 election - Churchill being carried to the poll on a chair because he was ill. L/S of Churchill being carried on students' shoulders - young men crowd around him cheering and throwing things in the air. Students in strange garb present Churchill with a bizarre hat - this is in Ireland. Churchill carried aloft on a chair by other students - he is in University robes. M/S Adolf Hitler of a train and shaking hands with Benito Mussolini in Italy. Various dignitaries shake hands and perform Nazi salute.

01:07:54 1938 - montage - C/U of man holding an advertising board for the Evening News which reads: "Keep Calm - And Dig", men digging trenches, children gathered for evacuation, C/U of children, evacuees walking along railway platform, Churchill entering Admiralty, Chamberlain leaving 10 Downing Street - Churchill entering it, French refugees walking along a road with British troops moving in the opposite direction, M/S of refugees moving their belongings with prams and bicycles, horse and cart etc. Speech about the "new dark age.." Dunkirk May 1940. M/Ss of wounded men walking up a gangplank to board a boat. Churchill voiceover "...this was their finest hour" speech. Continued.